THE SALES BLOG

Watch to learn how patience can lead to faster sales results

Hi Matthew Whyatt here. Welcome to a short, two minute sales update, a sales idea. These are about developing a couple little gems that you can just watch, think about, and then maybe apply in your next round of conversations with a client.

Today’s is about resisting the temptation. And what do I mean by that? Some salespeople and business owners will ask a few broad questions about what a client wants or needs and they’ll get some answers. Now the temptation here is to go oh, well I can fix that and you start pitching.

Now this is where you need to hold your horses, cool your jets, and actually ask one more question. Ask another question on top of that. Really understand what the client needs and not just what they need but the outcomes they are trying to create.

Then once you get that really clear, understanding the consequences of not delivering this properly, really getting in deep, then going another layer and actually asking a really cool question. And that question is so Mr. Prospect, how do you see this engagement playing out, over what time frame, and how would you like to deliver it?

What’s really interesting is some clients are really, really clear. They’re clear about what they want and so therefore if you, in your proposal, provide it to something different to what they had in their mind, then you’ll actually break out of rapport and they won’t really trust you to take them through the entire process.

Next time you’re with a client, you’re understanding their needs, ask them how they see it playing out. Now, if you’ve done a reasonably good job, they might sit back and go, oh well, you’re the expert, you tell me. And of course, then you can go ahead and start prescribing solutions, only after you understand what’s at stake, why it’s important, and what a good delivery is going to look like. Hopefully that’s been of interest so next time, as I said, figure out what the client had got in their mind before you tell them what’s in yours. Thanks very much, talk to you later, bye for now.